Provide instructions and resources for assessment and training in earth building: the Pirate project

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Post-merger innovative performance in the renewable energy sector

Due to global warming and shrinking fossil fuel resources, politics as well as society urge for a reduction of green house gas (GHG) emissions. This leads to a re-orientation towards a renewable energy sector. In this context, innovation and new technologies are key success factors. Moreover, the renewable energy sector has entered a consolidation stage, where corporate investors and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) gain in importance. Although both M&A and innovation in the renewable energy sector are important corporate strategies, the link between those two aspects has not been examined before. The present thesis examines the research question how M&A influence the acquirer’s post-merger innovative performance in the renewable energy sector. Based on a framework of relevant literature, three hypotheses are defined. First, the relation between non-technology oriented M&A and post-merger innovative performance is discussed. Second, the impact of absolute acquired knowledge on postmerger innovativeness is examined. Third, the target-acquirer relatedness is discussed. A panel data set of 117 firms collected over a period of six years has been analyzed via a random effects negative binomial regression model and a time lag of one year. The results support a non-significant, negative impact of non-technology M&A on postmerger innovative performance. The applied model did not support a positive and significant impact of absolute acquired knowledge on post-merger innovative performance. Lastly, the results suggest a reverse relation than postulated by Hypothesis 3. Targets from the same industry significantly and negatively influence the acquirers’ innovativeness.

Medium access control design for distributed opportunistic radio networks

Existing wireless networks are characterized by a fixed spectrum assignment policy. However, the scarcity of available spectrum and its inefficient usage demands for a new communication paradigm to exploit the existing spectrum opportunistically. Future Cognitive Radio (CR) devices should be able to sense unoccupied spectrum and will allow the deployment of real opportunistic networks. Still, traditional Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols are not suitable for this new type of networks because they are optimized to operate over fixed assigned frequency bands. Therefore, novel PHY-MAC cross-layer protocols should be developed to cope with the specific features of opportunistic networks. This thesis is mainly focused on the design and evaluation of MAC protocols for Decentralized Cognitive Radio Networks (DCRNs). It starts with a characterization of the spectrum sensing framework based on the Energy-Based Sensing (EBS) technique considering multiple scenarios. Then, guided by the sensing results obtained by the aforementioned technique, we present two novel decentralized CR MAC schemes: the first one designed to operate in single-channel scenarios and the second one to be used in multichannel scenarios. Analytical models for the network goodput, packet service time and individual transmission probability are derived and used to compute the performance of both protocols. Simulation results assess the accuracy of the analytical models as well as the benefits of the proposed CR MAC schemes.

Distributed solar micro generation

Taking into account the fact that the sun’s radiation is estimated to be enough to cover 10.000 times the world’s total energy needs (BRAKMANN & ARINGHOFF, 2003), it is difficult to understand how solar photovoltaic systems (PV) are still such a small part of the energy source matrix across the globe. Though there is an ongoing debate as to whether energy consumption leads to economic growth or whether it is the other way around, the two variables appear correlated and it is clear that ensuring the availability of energy to match a country’s growth targets is one of the prime concerns for any government. The topic of centralized vs distributed electricity generation is also approached, especially in what regards the latter fit to developing countries needs, namely the lack of investment capabilities and infrastructure, scattered population, and other factors. Finally, Brazil’s case is reviewed, showing that the current cost of electricity from the grid versus the cost from PV solutions still places an investment of this nature with 9 to 16 years to reach breakeven (from a 25 year panel lifespan), which is too high compared to the required 4 years for most Brazilians. Still, recently passed legislation opened the door, even if unknowingly, to the development of co-owned solar farms, which could reduce the implementation costs by as much as 20% and hence reduce the number of years to breakeven by 3 years.

Development of benchmarks for operating costs and resources consumption to be used in healthcare building sustainability assessment methods

Since the last decade of the twentieth century, the healthcare industry is paying attention to the environmental impact of their buildings and therefore new regulations, policy goals and Buildings Sustainability Assessment (HBSA) methods are being developed and implemented. At the present, healthcare is one of the most regulated industries and it is also one of the largest consumers of energy per net floor area. To assess the sustainability of healthcare buildings it is necessary to establish a set of benchmarks related with their life-cycle performance. They are both essential to rate the sustainability of a project and to support designers and other stakeholders in the process of designing and operating a sustainable building, by allowing the comparison to be made between a project and the conventional and best market practices. This research is focused on the methodology to set the benchmarks for resources consumption, waste production, operation costs and potential environmental impacts related to the operational phase of healthcare buildings. It aims at contributing to the reduction of the subjectivity found in the definition of the benchmarks used in Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) methods, and it is applied in the Portuguese context. These benchmarks will be used in the development of a Portuguese HBSA method.

IEA EBC Annex56 vision for cost effective energy and carbon emissions optimization in building renovation

Building sector has become an important target for carbon emissions reduction, energy consumption and resources depletion. Due to low rates of replacement of the existing buildings, their low energy performances are a major concern. Most of the current regulations are focused on new buildings and do not account with the several technical, functional and economic constraints that have to be faced in the renovation of existing buildings. Thus, a new methodology is proposed to be used in the decision making process for energy related building renovation, allowing finding a cost-effective balance between energy consumption, carbon emissions and overall added value.

Differences on allocation of available resources, in growth, reproduction, and survival, in an exotic gastropod of Physidae compared to an endemic one

Physa acuta Draparnaud, 1805 is an invasive gastropod that can affect local species. In Argentina, it is widespread and abundant, even in environments inhabited by the native species Stenophysa marmorata Guilding, 1828. Its predominance raises the question whether this could be explained by a more successful energy allocation in functional requirements (growth, reproduction and survival) compared to S. marmorata. This study was aimed at comparing growth rates, as well as survival and fecundity, between both species under laboratory conditions. Individuals born on the same day were grouped in four per aquaria and kept under controlled conditions of food, light, and temperature. Snails were weekly measured (maximum shell length), and growth rates were calculated using the Von Bertalanffy's equation. The number of eggs and survivors were grouped by week. Stenophysa marmorata was larger at birth than Physa acuta and invested more energy in growth, delaying sexual maturity. This resulted in a disadvantage in fecundity and survival compared to P. acuta, which had a lower growth rate but matured earlier and survived longer. Furthermore, the growth of P. acuta was not affected by reproduction, its reproductive period was longer, consequently with more eggs laid than S. marmorata.

Different trajectories of exosomatic energy metabolism for Brazil, Chile and Venezuela: using the MSIASM approach

Economic development goes hand in hand with an increase in the consumption of natural resources. Some analysts use material flows to describe such relationship [Eurostat 2001, Weisz et al., 2006], or exergy [Ayres et al., 2003]. Instead this paper will use a characterisation of the exosomatic energy metabolism based on expected benchmark values to describe possible constraints to economic development posed by available human time and energy. The aim of the paper is to identify types of exosomatic energy metabolism of different societies to interpret its consequences for economic development. This is done with the application of the accounting methodology called Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal Metabolism (MSIASM) to the particular case of energy metabolism for the analysis of the economies of Brazil, Chile and Venezuela.

Application of a roughness-length representation to parameterize energy loss in 3-D numerical simulations of large rivers

Recent technological advances in remote sensing have enabled investigation of the morphodynamics and hydrodynamics of large rivers. However, measuring topography and flow in these very large rivers is time consuming and thus often constrains the spatial resolution and reach-length scales that can be monitored. Similar constraints exist for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies of large rivers, requiring maximization of mesh-or grid-cell dimensions and implying a reduction in the representation of bedform-roughness elements that are of the order of a model grid cell or less, even if they are represented in available topographic data. These ``subgrid'' elements must be parameterized, and this paper applies and considers the impact of roughness-length treatments that include the effect of bed roughness due to ``unmeasured'' topography. CFD predictions were found to be sensitive to the roughness-length specification. Model optimization was based on acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements and estimates of the water surface slope for a variety of roughness lengths. This proved difficult as the metrics used to assess optimal model performance diverged due to the effects of large bedforms that are not well parameterized in roughness-length treatments. However, the general spatial flow patterns are effectively predicted by the model. Changes in roughness length were shown to have a major impact upon flow routing at the channel scale. The results also indicate an absence of secondary flow circulation cells in the reached studied, and suggest simpler two-dimensional models may have great utility in the investigation of flow within large rivers. Citation: Sandbach, S. D. et al. (2012), Application of a roughness-length representation to parameterize energy loss in 3-D numerical simulations of large rivers, Water Resour. Res., 48, W12501, doi: 10.1029/2011WR011284.

Tackling Fuel Poverty can Improve Health, but needs Resources

Fuel poverty is a significant threat to public health with its links to heart disease, respiratory illness and mental health. People on low incomes are most likely to live in fuel poverty. The Fuel Poverty Strategy, which was launched 23 November, 2004, needed to be adequately resourced to help reduce the devastating effects of health inequalities in our society, according to the Institute of Public Health in Ireland. The Institute of Public Health recently completed research which showed that locally based projects are an effective way of improving the energy efficiency of homes. The findings from the research conducted by the Institute of Public Health showed that local fuel poverty interventions can reduce fuel poverty and improve health: - The energy efficiency of homes were significantly improved - There was a statistically significant increase in levels of benefit uptake - People reported spending less on fuel after intervention - There were significant reductions in the presence of condensation, mould and damp, which is where we have the strongest evidence of links to ill-health - There was a significant reduction in the number of illnesses (associated with fuel poverty) reported by those who received the heating conversion and insulation - People reported reductions in the use of health services after intervention

The Politics of Network Governance in Europe: The Case of Energy Regulation

Networks are considered increasingly important for policy-making. The literature on new modes of governance in Europe suggests that their horizontal coordination capacity and flexible and informal structures are particularly suitable for governing the multilevel architecture of the European polity. However, empirical evidence about the effects of networks on policy-making and public policies is still quite limited. This article uses the case of the European network of energy regulators to explore the determinants of the position of network members and, in turn, the domestic adoption of soft rules developed within this network. The empirical analysis, based on multivariate statistics and semi-directive interviews, supports the expectation that institutional complementarities increase actors' centrality in networks, while arguments based on organisational resources and age are disproved. Furthermore, results show that the overall level of adoption is considerable and that centrality might have a small positive effect on domestic adoption.

Automatic self-configuration of the logical network using distributed software agents

We present a system for dynamic network resource configuration in environments with bandwidth reservation. The proposed system is completely distributed and automates the mechanisms for adapting the logical network to the offered load. The system is able to manage dynamically a logical network such as a virtual path network in ATM or a label switched path network in MPLS or GMPLS. The system design and implementation is based on a multi-agent system (MAS) which make the decisions of when and how to change a logical path. Despite the lack of a centralised global network view, results show that MAS manages the network resources effectively, reducing the connection blocking probability and, therefore, achieving better utilisation of network resources. We also include details of its architecture and implementation

An anonymous reputation mechanism for cloud computing networks using volunteer resources

One of the major problems when using non-dedicated volunteer resources in adistributed network is the high volatility of these hosts since they can go offlineor become unavailable at any time without control. Furthermore, the use ofvolunteer resources implies some security issues due to the fact that they aregenerally anonymous entities which we know nothing about. So, how to trustin someone we do not know?.Over the last years an important number of reputation-based trust solutionshave been designed to evaluate the participants' behavior in a system.However, most of these solutions are addressed to P2P and ad-hoc mobilenetworks that may not fit well with other kinds of distributed systems thatcould take advantage of volunteer resources as recent cloud computinginfrastructures.In this paper we propose a first approach to design an anonymous reputationmechanism for CoDeS [1], a middleware for building fogs where deployingservices using volunteer resources. The participants are reputation clients(RC), a reputation authority (RA) and a certification authority (CA). Users needa valid public key certificate from the CA to register to the RA and obtain thedata needed to participate into the system, as now an opaque identifier thatwe call here pseudonym and an initial reputation value that users provide toother users when interacting together. The mechanism prevents not only themanipulation of the provided reputation values but also any disclosure of theusers' identities to any other users or authorities so the anonymity isguaranteed.

Towards a User-Friendly Platform for Building Language Resources based on Web Services

This paper presents the platform developed in the PANACEA project, a distributed factory that automates the stages involved in the acquisition, production, updating and maintenance of Language Resources required by Machine Translation and other Language Technologies. We adopt a set of tools that have been successfully used in the Bioinformatics field, they are adapted to the needs of our field and used to deploy web services, which can be combined to build more complex processing chains (workflows). This paper describes the platform and its different components (web services, registry, workflows, social network and interoperability). We demonstrate the scalability of the platform by carrying out a set of massive data experiments. Finally, a validation of the platform across a set of required criteria proves its usability for different types of users (non-technical users and providers).